bomberbaz

@imakebeer, I found the link to a more in depth overview on filters. So if you are considering expanding your armoury, it is well worth a read.

Guide to Light Pollution Filters (agenaastro.com)

M42/3 are so giving in terms of data in a short period of time, very nice indeed.

Run this with limited data to see what I could get out of it and actually quite pleased. 

I have 48 minutes at a B4 site with a 3/4 moon from tonight and 60 minutes from my LP back garden with an horrendous light gradient from last year 😉 .  (All at -10 but differing exposures)

On there own, neither batch of data gave a decent result but combined & processed together using Siril - Gimp (inc Py-Astro & G-Mic) I managed to remove most of the slight gradient and produce an half decent result.

More data from the darker site would obviously help a lot and if i get chance I would like to add to it.

SW Evoguide - SW AZ/Gti in EQ mode - ZWO 183MC

Cheers all

3 hours ago, Craney said:

Not been a great year in terms of progression but have still enjoyed the turning of the heavens and photographing less visited areas of the sky.

I have found it hard to invest the required time and tweak the inevitable 'issues' but hey-ho, othr things to do.

I would not have included a post here ... but ..... went to Iceland over New Year and got this... on December 30th.

 

-22'C ( that's colder than the temperature I set on my Atik 414 !!!! )  and a breeze.   Respect to those who venture out into the high latitudes to do astro-photography. 

Anyway, looking forward to 2023 .... Happy New Year everyone.      ( now where's that comet ??)

 

Stunning

My best are the Wizard, Tarazed dark nebula and the entire veil. (best viewed on a larger screen and sat back as it's a wide field setup)

Re the veil, I was still getting the hang of colours so a little oversaturated. However I was very pleased with the framing and overall structure.

OOPS, nearly forgot the Aurora from my trip to Galloway. 😁

12 hours ago, mcrowle said:

A delivery Friday afternoon from Auntie FLO via DPD: an Orion Dynamo Pro power pack to power my mount and laptop, and a Sky-Watcher EvoGuide 50ED that I plan to use for autoguiding my 12" Newtonian.

Re. the latter, I've used an off-axis guider to guide (manually) with the Newt for the last decade - but more often than not I gave up trying to find a guide star and instead resorted to unguided short exposures! Hopefully the guide scope (and an existing ZWO camera) will be a better alternative, though I've not tried it yet.

Regards, and happy New Year! Mike

I image with the evoguide, it's a very accomplished bit of kit. 

8 hours ago, imakebeer said:

Nice tip, thanks, I'll try it 👍

The PDS only comes with the 28mm 2", but there's also a 1.25" adapter...

And I have the 25 & 10mm eyepieces that came with the frac, plus 2x, 3x & 5x Barlows...

So the 10mm + 2x Barlow will get me to 150x which ought to do it as long as the optics are sharp enough - and at least the HEQ5 should be rather more steady than the wobbly EQ1 to do that magnification justice!

I would use the 25mm with the 3x barlow or even 5 times to get you higher power. More eye relief, much easier to place your eyeball and an overall more comfortable experience. 

@Nigella Bryant, I refer you to the statement highlighted in white in my signature 😉

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

I should add to this if/when I have time. But one thing I can quickly add…

I’ve seen M33 at a Bortle 2 site while on holiday using a a basic 4.5 inch reflector that cost about £120. I can’t even see this at home in my Bortle 7 location in my 8 inch Dob.

Using the same 4.5 inch reflector I saw M8 (lagoon) in a Bortle 1-2 site. It was truly jaw dropping! A UHC filter brought out a few more details but without it I could even make out colours. It’s was absolutely stunning and all the images that I’ve seen do not do it justice even when at the eyepiece on a small telescope at a dark site. I can only image what it would look like with more aperture. 

Nothing beats dark skies

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

No. Nice to try on a few specific objects, but not generally necessary.

The key point here is generally, most (but not all by a long way) nebula show something without a filter, however unless you intent on spending a very long time on the same object as suggested by @mikeDnight , a filter is something of a must have as far as I am concerned, some will agree, some (as can be seen by comments) do not.

I do use a blackout hood, best thing I bought.

3 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

After half an hour looking at the Pleiades the entire cluster is enmeshed in nebulosity. The trick is to shield your peripheral vision from surrounding stray light, either by using a blackout blanket or hood, or driving to a dark site. 

3 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Filters are not required at all.  They can be useful but there is plenty to see without them.

The 28mm that came with the scope is pretty decent for widefield and if you are just getting going it will be ideal for a lot of stuff.

Download stellarium and you can configure it to show an eyepiece view for your scope and eyepiece.  You can go for a while with the eyepieces you've got.

 

No no sorry @Ratletbut that is not correct at all. You're making filters sound gimmicky, maybe not your intention but how it appears.

Most planetary nebula will respond very well to no filter, I will agree with you there, but very many more emission nebula are virtually impossible to see without a filter, the crescent nebula being one unless your in B2 skies or better. Even then a filter greatly enhances the detail that can be seen.  

There are many others too (heart, soul, california, horsehead, cocoon etc). 

As already mentioned, even bright nebula offer up something extra when used with a filter and in my opinion you overlook the usage of one to your own detriment.

There is a great cloudynights filter review to which I frequently refer, details of their findings on filter use and benefit can be found there Filter Performance Comparisons - Astronomical Filters - Articles - Articles - Cloudy Nights  I think it gives a pretty decent overview of with and without.

On 27/12/2022 at 20:50, imakebeer said:

Question for all you visual-only astronomers:

What are y'all looking at through the eyepiece? Please inspire me!

 

OK let me try with my reply, I have asked so many questions in the past and like to think I have gained a little from nearly every thread i have opened or contributed too in some small way.

First my background started as purely visual but I have tinkered around with photography pretty much from the beginning. I now have a very small portable AZ GTI astrophotography rig as well as an eVscope which allow me to carry out some type of astronomy even during moonlit nights or those when I am not in the mood for driving out. that said, my main interest remains visual.

There is something very satisfying about having the photons of some far off galaxy hit your retina and realise that when they lefts it's host, dinosaurs were walking the earth or some similar analogy.

What you view and enjoy viewing depends upon the individual. It could be broken down in simple terms as stars (doubles, variables etc), star open clusters, globulars, nebula and galaxy. There are hybrids of these, some variations along with a few oddities but I think this covers the bases.

Personally I like them all but I do have a penchant for nebula or galaxy with good structure.  I will chat more about nebula first and then a little on galaxy.

I think I have seen a pretty good number of the available nebula from the Northern hemisphere and have written up about these on here before. My most satisfying nebula in terms of structure, definition, brightness and overall beauty (leaving out Orion) still remains as NGC 6888 Crescent nebula. Responds superbly to an OIII filter with a decent aperture but a UHC is a very good back up option and that filter should always be your first purchase for viewing nebula. Line filters (OIII & HB) can be bought later if you get into nebula in a bigger way.  I left out Orion because it's just to easy to be in a competition and it is simply beyond compare when viewed in the right conditions, mesmerising. ( I was in 1,000 yard stare mode for a minute whilst writing that last sentence, really took me back)

Galaxies, well I know I wrote with good structure but I do love them all. My best (distanced) visual fuzzy was 420M LY away seen March this year under a B2 sky in Galloway, barely visible but it was there. I spent a few minutes at the eyepiece on that as i remember but the satisfaction was from, "I got it", not from what I really saw.  My favourite galaxy in terms of "what I saw" came from M33. This was about 6 years since, again in a B2 (new moon) sky when the view was literally as striking as some of the images I have seen on here. M51 runs it a close second and this was again from March this year. However other satisfying objects are numerous (M81, 82, Leo triplet, M101) to name a few.

On galaxy viewing it helps to view a suitable object at low, med and high power. Doing so allows you to tease out different amount of detail as they respond to the differing eye pupil sizes giving you an overall better structure resolve. 

Finally, all my "best views" have come under very dark skies. A readily available (to most of us) B4 (sqm20.5) sky will give you very satisfying views of nearly all deep sky objects but the very best OMG type moments have come for me under B2 (SQM21.5+) skies, there really is no substitution for the very dark.

Just re-reading your post, not exactly sure what your looking to adapt too. However there are a huge range of adaptors at FLO and I think for that part of your question at least you may be better asking FLO directly. They are very helpful and more than happy to assist.

1 hour ago, Mognet said:

Thanks Steve. I already have a longer one that I've been using with my camera and a Nikon adaptor, but wasn't sure it would be suitable or even fit the thread. This one seems to be the better option with the reducer

I would confirm with FLO before pressing any buttons

3 hours ago, Mognet said:

Hi all,

I've been doing a little astrophotography with my old Nikon D3100, but I'm now planning  getting a proper camera. Initially it will be used with my Mak127, and I'll get something with a wider field early next year.

What I'm planning currently is the ZWO ASI585 camera https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi-585mc-usb-3-camera.html

WIth the Mak127 I probably need a reducer, I think this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/stellamira-2-06x-reducer-field-flattener-with-m42-adapter.html

Then the questionable bits. With the reducer I'll need an adaptor as the mak has a 1.25" back, would this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-2-to-125-reducer-adapter.html be suitable, and would I need another adaptor/extension tube too, or do I need something different?

 

I already have an AZ-EQ5 for the mount, and a Raspberry Pi400 with Astroberry for control, and hopefully this power supply should be able to drive all of them https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/orion-dynamo-pro-155wh-acdcusb-lithium-power-supply.html

Think you need this to attach the reducer to the mak https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-1-25-inch-t-mount-camera-nosepiece-adapter.html

Decent that, wish the eVscope had a mosaic programme option. 

12 minutes ago, Franklin said:

I have an LVW 42mm which is 2" and my UHC-S is 2" as well, but my OIII is 1.25" and the longest fl 1.25" eyepiece is LVW 22mm. They all have an effect but my skies here are around B7 so I prefer the UHC-S. I'm keeping hold of the OIII though for when I can get out to some darker skies.

That should give some cracking widefield views using a frac. 

3 hours ago, Franklin said:

My scopes are F/7.7 and the largest aperture is 103mm, so no light-buckets here. I have two nebula filters, a Baader UHC-S and a Badder OIII (visual 10nm) and even though the OIII has much more effect, ie. darkening of the sky background, I much prefer using the UHC-S. It helps with contrast against my light polluted skies but still allows plenty of field stars to be viewed.

If you could get a use of an eyepiece around 36mm then this would give you an exit pupil of 4.7mm which would lighten things up and brighten the nebula too for the OIII, on the downside your only going to be around x20 so only decent sized nebula (eg M42, Crescent, NGC 7000) would work with this, hence my reference to larger apertures and lower focal lengths being more suitable for line filters.

However, I reckon any of your scopes would work really well with a UHC especially if you get into skies which are sub B5. I use UHC on my large bins (80mm) and it responds really well, had some cracking views of the lagoon nebula earlier this year as an example.

I too have a UHC-S filter and generally it is used on my fracs but it has had occasional use on the T350. Where it will come into it's own is when cranking up the power on planetary nebula although this is where you OIII should also stand out as previously mentioned.

On 09/12/2022 at 02:48, Louis D said:

It's so difficult to get above a 4mm exit pupil with an f/10 SCT or f/12 Mak, let alone an f/15 Mak.  You need a 40mm or longer eyepiece just to get close to 4mm.  50mm or more is better.  Then the problem becomes you're looking down a straw.

Agree with you Louis and to be fair I should have been more precise in my previous comment.  An average off the peg scope of much more than F6 is not going to provide a readily useable exit pupil for a line filters unless we are talking light buckets in my opinion. However when we get to light buckets, we get typically get to F ratios of F4 and below.

Kindly pointed out to me by @robin_astro is this type 1a in NGC 5631, magnitude around 14. Easy enough to capture but slightly fuzzy in my eVscope, I have recollimated it since this image was taken. 

15 hours ago, PeterW said:

Not scopes do collect more light but spread it out more as they operate at higher powers. The f-ratio attects the brightness of the image (other things being equal. Reflectors tend to have a higher noise floor due to dust on the mirrors, one reason the camera lens powered Dragonfly telescope array is unique in detecting ultra faint structures round galaxies. 
The ability to produce acceptable images of a range of objects in a reasonable time under light pollution (do lens shields and filters help) is key to outreach, so people don’t get bored. No point in Hubble quality if you have to wait a hour, won’t get to see many objects. This affects all EEA scopes.

 

Peter

Good point well made, here are some examples of eVscope objects in I think reasonable time.  I am still getting used to it but sitting inside when it's -10 outside and still being able to observe is great fun. 

On 09/12/2022 at 12:17, robin_astro said:

Too low for me but here is another further north of a different type, ( a type 1a, an exploded white dwarf). SN 2022aaiq is  in NGC 5631 under the pole  in Ursa Major so the further north you are the better !)

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2022aaiq

Discovered by amateur Patrick Wiggins three weeks ago, it is still currently  mag 14. It is quite close to the galaxy core though so might be an interesting visual challenge ? (I am not a regular visual observer)  Here is a typical image by Wim Cuppens

https://www.flickr.com/photos/snimages/52535076314/

and my spectrum (in black) overlaid on a matching type 1a spectrum

https://britastro.org/specdb/view_image.php?obs_id=12942

Cheers

Robin

I got this last night, thanks for the heads up. Very easily found and seen. Used my own eVscope to get it, too cold to go after it visual.  

Transferring data guide from ZWO site. I use method 3, it isn't the quickest but it avoids data corruption which I have had in the past from dickie memory sticks.

[ASIAIR GUIDE] How to transfer images from ASIAIR (UPDATED) – ZWO ASI (astronomy-imaging-camera.com)

22 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Can you attach a USB powered external hard drive to an ASIair?  Not that I want/need to. Just wondering. 

Not that I am aware, that said I have never tried it.

FWIW, I transfer my data from the ASI AIR via wireless, takes a while but simple enough to do and no messing with cards or sticks.

5 minutes ago, etsatlo said:

At about 15% of the price of the eVscope (give or take), that's the stand out feature.

Whilst I agree specs and aperture and flexibility can be challenged, at that price point I think they could be sat on a gold mine.

Mount, scope, sensor, plate solving, live stacking, goto, tracking, solar imaging and daytime imaging all in one package the size of some binoculars? That's worth a punt (which I have!)

I did look at it but there was some warning that as a perk, receipt of the goods isn't guaranteed! What's all that about?

I own the eVscope and compared to that it is vastly underpowered. If I was just buying one for night time viewing then I would probably not buy this. 

However I think there is a good market for it as it is both terrestrial and night time, extremely portable and overall very ubiquitous. It would be great for astronomy clubs for outreach, schools and college for similar, there is definately a market out there for it.